•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- I have recently constructed a calliope from inexpensive materials; in fact, the whole thing cost about $100 not including the solenoids which, luckily, were given to me. Details of how to build your own calliope are available at my web site: http...

•-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD -- I have recently constructed a calliope from inexpensive materials; in fact, the whole thing cost about $100 not including the solenoids which, luckily, were given to me. Details of how to build your own calliope are available at my web site: http...

•[Re: 001028 MMDigest] This looks very nice and interesting. The instructions and drawings are very clear and would seem to make this a very realistic and enjoyable project. I can't wait until after I finish my Estey 2mp T and two other single manual reed organ restorations. By then (next June) I sh...

•Does anyone out there know what temperament the Tangley company originally used in the tuning of their Calliope? I am in the final stages of building a set of whistles. I have initially tuned the whistles using a electronic tuning meter in equal temperament and while the result is acceptable, I get...

•I read with interest Bill Mote's posting. I am nearing the end of the process of building pipes for the air calliope according to David Kerr's plans. I have yet to build the air chest to put all the pipes on, and also am trying to decide how to valve and control the valves. From what I've researche...

•Bill Mote asked, "Does anyone out there know what temperament the Tangley company originally used in the tuning of their Calliope?" I tune mine with a Conn StroboConn tuner. That has proved to be satisfactory. Hal Davis

•Larry Claus wrote in 010226 MMDigest, "I'm still stuck on deciding about valves and solenoids. Money is a factor here ..." In 010107 MMDigest I posted about "MIDIfying a Raffin 20-key Organ". I bought the valves from Peterson Electro-Musical Products in the U.S. -- they were USD 4 apiece for the sm...

•I have just revised my two books and built a web site to promote building a circus air-calliope and a Wurlitzer band organ. Both of the books are copyright and have ISBN numbers. They are as follows: - Wurlitzer building plans and voicing tips, Model 104/105 band organ. ISBN #0-9711303-0-2 Building...

•I received an inquiry asking if I could supply revised pages for earlier editions of my plans. Unfortunately I can't offer that because the changes are too extensive, but, for people who already have a previous edition of my book, I offer a copy of the new book at half price, postage paid, for eith...

•-- forwarded message, please reply to sender and MMD -- We're now on the important project team of a major constructing company in Japan. Our developer is making a big shopping center in Nagoya, Japan, where they are going to put a steam boat (not a floating one, but the one on the land) near the r...

•I have just traded for a custom-built 44-note air calliope. It is about ten years old and is a little different from the Tangley calliopes built by Dave Miner. The pipes are mounted on one long square piece of tubing. Each pipe has an electric valve that operates each pipe. The keyboard and roll fr...

•Hello all, I may only be stating what everyone already knows but here goes. Recently, after a near ill-fated attempt to clean and polish the brass pipes on my calliope, I discovered that the polishing compound had gotten into the small opening around the insert at the bottom of the pipes. When I ha...

•When I read about the obstructed apertures on the calliope I was reminded about the careless polishing of the brass whistles on the Delta Queen and Mississippi Queen Steamboats. Dr. Don Elbers and I found that after a yearly lay-up most of the whistles would not speak correctly, if at all! The culp...

•The method I use to clean the windways of my calliope whistles is simple. I use a set of feeler gauges I bought at an auto parts store. The set is a series of flat steel blades from 0.001" thickness, in 0.001" increments up to whatever. I think there are about twenty or more of them in the set I ha...

•A few years ago Bill Pohl, a good friend of mine and of mechanical music, gave me for a Christmas present a set of calliope pipe cleaners that he had made from the older pop-top soda (or beer) cans. These were the pull tabs that actually pulled off the can. He then bent these, put a black tape arou...

•Regarding the posting by Jim Welty about Paul Eakins and the sale of the items in his St. Louis museum. It occupied the ground floor of a large building owned by the makers of Tums ("Tums for your tummy!"). Tums needed the space, so Paul and Laura had to sell out or otherwise remove the contents th...

•On a perennial MMD favourite subject, I was just browsing the wonderful Red Hot Jazz web site and came across a photograph of the jazz legend, Fate Marable, playing a steam calliope aboard a riverboat, circa 1920. Thought fans might like to have a look. One side of the only record Marable made, wit...

•Does anyone know of any working calliopes in Australia? One is needed for the New Year's celebration in Sydney Harbour. With over 500,000 people in attendance, I'm sure steam would be preferred. If there are none in Australia, an owner could possibly be treated to a holiday there. Berley Firmin ...

•I have had an 'A' roll made for my 53-note calliope, which has no note coupling at all. I would like to find a couple of people with 43-note machines to send the roll to for evaluation. I would like to have a tape recording of the roll being played on a 43-note machine with the Tangley coupling sch...

•Has anyone ever tried to match the frequency of two steam whistles to get the tremolo affect? Thanks, Jonathan King [ The organ folks call this beautiful effect "Vox Celeste" and [ other names. It's probably been heard when the whistles on [ two locomotives sound together, and when the steam callio...